President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday focused his re-election bid on Greater Taichung, holding a large-scale rally and a meeting with netizens, as the election campaigns of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heated up.
Ma and his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), attended the campaign rally organized by sports groups in the morning to consolidate support. Ma later met with his Facebook supporters and discussed national policies before heading to another campaign activity held by the party’s youth group.
Ma’s campaign schedule in Greater Taichung coincided with the campaign activities of his DPP counterpart, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who also visited the municipality yesterday for the DPP’s congress and large-scale rally to build up momentum for the combined legislative and presidential elections on Jan. 14.
The overlapping campaign schedule of the two candidates sparked concerns from Tsai’s camp, especially after Tsai’s trip to the US earlier this month was mirrored by Ma’s top aide, his campaign executive director King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), who continuously criticized Tsai’s campaign platform and policies during his US trip.
Ma’s campaign yesterday dismissed concerns from Tsai and the DPP about Ma campaigning in the same location as Tsai, and urged the DPP presidential nominee to focus her attention on presenting a platform.
“President Ma’s meeting with Facebook fans in Taichung was arranged a month ago and we have never accused Tsai and the DPP of following our campaign schedule. Rather than questioning us, Chairperson Tsai should focus her efforts on offering solid policies,” said Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), vice executive director of Ma’s campaign team.
At the campaign rallies, Ma promoted the government’s cross-strait policies and promised to lead the nation to a more prosperous future if re-elected.
“The majority of Taiwanese wish to maintain the ‘status quo’ across the Taiwan Strait and this represents the consensus in Taiwan. The government has been promoting peaceful cross-strait relations under such a consensus and we will continue to do so for the next four years,” Ma said at a meeting with the KMT’s youth members.
He also promised to further improve the lives of the people by addressing everyday issues from the price of cooking wine to fraud cases.
“The government should understand the pain of the people and work hard to solve problems ... Please give us four more years and let us continue with the reforms that will make Taiwan better,” he said.
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